the waiting game
by puertoricanjane
Summary: Haninozuka Mitsukuni embodies a pixie in all aspects.


**i. honey**

"It's really not much different from curses," Reiko is saying, and Honey doesn't want to give her the impression he's not listening because he is—he's always interested in anything she has to say—but Reiko's hand rises and Honey is lost, his eyes tracking her ring finger as it hooks behind the shell of her ear, the rest of her fingers curled slightly inwards as she smooths some hair behind it. The strangely mesmerizing action makes him swallow dryly, heat pooling in his stomach. Honey tries to smile along, to keep his gaze fixed on Reiko's pretty, dark eyes or the space in between, not letting his eyes drop to her mouth. "They both require extensive foreknowledge and precision to be successful, lest you find yourself getting unwanted results."

"You must be really good at baking then, Kanazuki-chan," Honey says, just to make the faintest tinge of red appear on her cheekbones. Reiko's eyes smile more than her mouth does so all the breath is knocked out of him when one blooms on Reiko's lips, unexpected and beautiful. It's the barest upturn but it makes Honey grin stupidly, flushed with pride and satisfaction.

He never wants to stop being on the receiving end of her smiles; wants to be the one to always put them there, to be responsible for the brightening of her eyes, the softening of her face. Wants her to to be his sole customer for the day when it's time for Host Club, to listen as she goes on about curses and black magic in her distinct placid tones—even if it's a little scary—because what matters is she's sharing those parts of herself, trusting he'll accept her quirks the way she's accepted his.

More and more of his wants lately have begun to revolve around this strange, beautiful girl and, unlike Reiko, Honey has no delusions about what that means.

Reiko hides her smile behind the curve of her teacup, making Honey take the hand still under the table, the one she returned to her lap after smoothing back her hair. Her eyes jerk up to his and he has to bite back a laugh, seeing cool, unflappable Reiko with her eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"You'll let me taste your efforts some time, right?"

Her hand trembles under his and Honey continues smiling sweetly when he really wants to smirk. He planned on squeezing her fingers once and drawing away, not wanting to startle her too badly, but a flushed and confused Reiko is one of the cutest things he's ever seen and he can't stop himself from brushing the pad of his thumb over her knuckles, once, twice, three times.

He wonders if her lips are as soft as her hands.

Hopes to find out, but not today, with the whole of the Host Club surrounding them, or when Reiko still hasn't realized what her feelings towards him mean. It's a waiting game but Honey doesn't mind at all—it's enough to just spend time with her, nurturing their burgeoning friendship.

So Honey draws his hand from hers, already missing the point of warmth between them.

He smiles around another forkful of cake, not letting on to how keenly he feels its absence, while Reiko blinks at him owlishly. He watches with no small amount of satisfaction as a tremor goes through the hand holding the teacup. Reiko gulps down some more tea, setting it down with a soft clink.

"Y—Yes. If you find that permissible, Haninozuka-san. I hope they live up to your expectations."

"They will," says Honey confidently, and isn't just talking about cake.

**ii. reiko**

Haninozuka Mitsukuni embodies a pixie in all aspects.

The appearance is a given, what with his fey-like face and gold spun hair, and his voice is closer to their bright, chirping tones than any other person she has met. Reiko watches him flit about, never standing still, moving from one person to the next, and thinks if she strains her eyes hard enough she might see a pair of small wings on his back.

So, knowing of pixies the way she does, Reiko should be less caught off guard by certain aspects of Honey's character than the average person. Pixies _are_ natural tricksters.

This is not the case but then she supposes that is a credit to how well he conceals his true nature.

It starts, like most things with Honey, with cake.

They are sharing in the devil's food cake Reiko has prepared. She enjoys the irony, and Honey seems to as well, giving her a small, knowing smile when she mentions what kind of cake it is.

"Your cakes just get better and better, Reiko-chan," Honey enthuses, making her stomach flutter. She graces him with a smile, wondering if she will cease to be delighted by hearing her name from him, not the Kanazuki-chan from the beginning of their acquaintanceship. She hopes it isn't for a while yet—she quite enjoys the feeling, knowing it's love now, not the curse she had thought before.

"I have had ample motivation," she says, and he giggles.

She watches his face suddenly change—his lips pursing into a line, his eyebrows drawing together. There's a subtle darkening of the eyes and Reiko's opening her mouth to ask what's wrong when he says "Ah, Reiko-chan, you have a little something," and closes the distance between them, his cake sweetened breath on her lips. She trembles, eyes closing involuntarily, gasping when he brushes his lips to the corner of her mouth. She can feel her face steaming—Haninozuka Mitsukuni is _kissing_ her—and she tastes the faintest hint of chocolate before he pulls away.

"All gone," Honey chirps but she hears the false innocence more clearly than she ever has before.

"Pixie," Reiko breathes, absently touching her lips.

"Better than Haninozuka-san, I guess," he says, shrugging. His little smirk makes her eyes narrow—it's not fair that he should be so unaffected when her heart's still pulsing a staccato rhythm in her ears. "You can call me Mitsukuni since we're dating now, you know."

Reiko makes a note of this before leaning forward, effectively taking a page from his book.

Pixies, she finds, can be silenced with kisses as well as anyone.


End file.
